Kapitel 2
The Case System: An Introduction
Nominative and Accusative
Up until this point, we have dealt exclusively with the Nominative, or Subject, Case.
Unlike English, German inflects nouns so that you know what grammatical function they have in a sentence.
This means that articles (indefinite and
definite), possessive adjectives, etc. have endings that give information
about the noun they precede.
We have already seen this in the Nominative
Case [ ==> SUBJECT]:
Der Stuhl ist braun.
der Stuhl ==> 'der" tells us
that "Stuhl" is Masculine, Singular and Nominative (the subject)
Die Lampe ist alt.
die Lampe ==> "die" tells us that
"Lampe" is Feminine, Singular, and Nominative (the subject)
Articles in the Nominative Case
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The Accusative Case is the case
that marks Direct Objects, that is, the object of the action of
the verb in the sentence.
The verb is often one that denotes possession,
desire, seeing, etc. such as: haben, möchten, brauchen, kaufen,
sehen, hören, etc.
Melanie hat einen Stuhl.
What is the Subject of this sentence?
==> Melanie
What is the Verb?
==> hat [verb of possession]
What is the Direct Object?
==> einen Stuhl
Articles in the Accusative Case
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Now say what Stefan has in his room, using the Accusative Case.
MODELL: Stefan hat einen Teppich.
Mask, Sing.,
Akk.
Stefan hat Telefon.
Stefan hat Klavier
Stefan hat Sessel.
Stefan hat Fernseher.
Stefan hat Gitarre.
Stefan hat Regal.
Stefan hat Wecker.
Stefan hat Radio.
Stefan hat Schrank.
Stefan hat Schreibtisch
Stefan hat Bücher.
Stefan hat Fenster.
Stefan hat Poster.
Stefan hat
Bett.